Hello Blog Friends. I know, I know-it’s been a while. Everything is pretty good over here; I just got caught up in the holidays, minor communicable diseases and an organizing jag.

Over the last two months, I have started four or five posts and then left them withering in cyber storage, unfinished. The great ideas I had to wow you with, shriveled when I sat down at the keyboard. I’ve had a lot on my mind and it seems that I’ve needed to mull. In yoga, this is called turning inward.

Forward bends are a certain group of poses that are conducive to this introspection. Whether standing, sitting or lying down, the point of a forward bend is to fold the body over on itself. Head to knees, hands to floor, belly to thighs. In a forward bend, you can’t look around and distract yourself. Turning the head to either side will get you a side view of your knee. Then you turn your head back to center and try to concentrate on yourself, the pose or maybe the intense sensation in your hamstrings. Either way, in a forward bend, you are always called back to yourself. Yoga’s kinda great that way.

Sometimes, the introspection extends beyond the mat and that’s what has been going on in my world. I’ve been feeling a pull toward quiet, toward solitude, toward thought. Those of you who know me personally are probably on the floor, doubled over with laughter. I know what you’re thinking, “What is she thinking? She’s got three kids! There’s no time for navel-gazing.” And you would be right, which is why my psyche keeps pulling me toward the idea of contemplation. I think most of us are more susceptible to that this time of year, you know, new beginnings and all.

I can’t say that all of this introspection has led me anywhere in particular, but it has been nice, the little snatches I’ve gotten of it. I’ll let you know what bubbles up, until then, I’ll keep mulling. What are you mulling over this year? The following are a few things to mull, if you need some material.

1) Black Swan
I saw this movie over the weekend and I’m still deciding what I think about it. I liked it and it is a beautifully dark movie, full of gray and black and white images.

2) Poser
I loved this memoir by Claire Dederer and I want to be friends with her. Anyone know her? She captures early marriage and motherhood, weaves them together with yoga and feminism to make a complex, lovely, funny statement on her life and many other women during this time in our country.